


Orcish Spy, The

by HASA_Archivist



Category: The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Action, War of the Ring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-22
Updated: 2015-04-22
Packaged: 2018-03-25 07:02:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3801191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HASA_Archivist/pseuds/HASA_Archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An Orc battalion commander betrays the Orcish side when he is passed over for promotion, and works with the humans to assassinate a higher Orchish leader.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Orcish Spy, The

**Author's Note:**

> Note from the HASA Transition Team: This story was originally archived at [HASA](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Henneth_Ann%C3%BBn_Story_Archive), which closed in February 2015. To preserve the archive, we began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in February 2015. We posted announcements about the move, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this author, please contact The HASA Transition Team using the e-mail address on the [HASA collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/hasa/profile).

The Orc Spy

Chapter One  
The smoke rose over the battlefield as the last of the fires in the town were extinguished. The charred bodies of the humans lay piled at one end of the small town while their houses lay in shambles.  
Ma’awyke and Kabal walked through the burned town of Helton with jubilant satisfaction. The town had been taken from the humans with minimal losses, and most of the cattle from the fields surrounding the town had survived for slaughter at a later time.  
While Ma’awyke was a smaller orc of about five and a half feet, he had risen through the orc ranks using his mind. His attrition-based battle plans put fear into the humans, as Ma’awyke would rather burn an entire city than capture a thousand men.  
Kabal couldn’t match Ma’awyke’s mind, but his six foot, nine-inch size loomed over the battlefield, and made humans and orcs alike tremble as he approached. Kabal had lead the charge into Helton and had killed many of the enemy humans. The seemingly permanent reddish tint to Kabal’s blade testified to his love of killing and combat.  
Kabal and Ma’awyke turned as a small convoy of heavily armed Orcish soldiers ventured into the town. Surrounded by bodyguards was Minsirth, one of the highest Orchish commanders. Minsirth walked over to Kabal and Ma’awyke as he took in the site of the burning town.  
“Excellent. Helton is no more, I expected as much. Ma’awyke, you are to be congratulated for the burning of the town, but Kabal, it is you who turned the tide of the battle against wretched humans. Kabal, as you know, our Southern front commander, Kilron, was killed by a lucky arrow shot by the human forces. Travel to the Southern front and take control of the massive army there. In the meantime, Ma’awyke, finish with scorching this town, and take your battalion north, to guard against any human counteroffensives, as unlikely as one might be.”  
Kabal and Ma’awyke stood stunned as Minsirth walked away with is small group of personal warriors. The Southern front had over 300,000 orcs, whereas the battalion that had taken Helton barely had 20,000 orcs. Kabal could hardly believe his good luck, and looked down upon Ma’awyke and said to Ma’awyke as he strode away to waiting horse, “Looks like I’m the one with the command post, have fun with the home guard, if an attack ever should come.”  
Ma’awyke was outraged. He had designed the plans for Helton, and although Ma’awyke hardly fought in the battles due to his diminutive size, he had been the one that ordered the burning of the town and had planned the Orcish army’s outflanking of its human opponent. He knew that his assignment to the Orcish home guard was a major setback to his desire for more power, as the home guard never saw action. Ma’awyke decided that Kabal needed to be eliminated.  
As Ma’awyke pondered possible ways to kill Kabal, he realized his plan was impossible on his own. Kabal was now a high-ranking general, and would have several guards at all times. Furthermore, Ma’awyke was only an average fighter, and if confronted by Kabal would surely lose. Finally, Ma’awyke was headed north to the home guard, while Kabal headed south. Ma’awyke knew that his absence from the home guard would be impossible to explain, and if he killed Kabal, Ma’awyke would be killed upon his return.  
After a sleepless night of plotting, Ma’awyke finally realized the one people that could help him kill Kabal: the humans. The humans possessed the warriors and stealth necessary to find and kill Kabal. Additionally, he knew that there was a large human army about a days ride to the West of Helton. As the sun rose, Ma’awyke decided to put his plan into action.  
Ma’awyke walked out of his tent, and over to the cages where the human prisoners from Helton were being held. The wooden cages were guarded by seven massive orcs, who looked at the captive prisoners bloodthirstily. Ma’awyke examined the prisoners, and finally chose a captive for his task, a tall, strong town militia cavalry captain.  
“Guard, allow me to take this prisoner over to the stables for a private talk,” Ma’awyke ordered as he drew his short blade menacingly.  
“Yes, m’lord,” the guard responded, as he opened the wooden cage and pulled the cavalry captain out. The cavalry captain glared at Ma’awyke, but did not speak.  
Ma’awyke leaned towards the prisoner, and whispered, “If you do as I say, no harm will come to you, and you will earn your freedom.” The captain looked back doubtfully, but walked towards the human stables at the Northern tip of the town, as Ma’awyke held a sword to the humans back.  
“Enter the stables, but do not speak,” Ma’awyke commanded, as his human captive walked through the door at the front of the stables. Once Ma’awyke was confident that the stable was deserted, he pulled a small piece of paper from his belt pouch and handed it to the human captive.  
“My name is Ma’awyke, and I am the battalion commander here,” Ma’awyke whispered quietly but defiantly. “I am tired of being mistreated by an orc named Kabal, and I plan to see to his death. I present to you an offer: your freedom for the delivering of this message to the commander of the human forces to the West. If you accept my offer, but do not deliver the message, I will slaughter all of the human captives from Helton. If you wish to decline my offer, you will return to the prisoner cage, but no harm will come to you or your fellow captives.”  
The captain’s eyes went wide at such an unusual offer from an orc. “How do I know that the message won’t endanger the entire human army?” The captain asked.  
“The message provides instructions for that. Inform the human commander that I offer him the commander of the Orcish Army of the Southern Front. He will know that such a loss would be devastating to the morale of the orcish forces. Our time is limited. Do you accept or not?” Ma’awyke responded.  
“You don’t leave me much choice, I will accept your offer,” the captain said as he read the message the orc had given him. As the captain mounted a horse in the stable, he turned to look at Ma’awyke and said, “But, I swear on my life, if any of my men are killed in captivity, it will be your death that will follow.”

Chapter 2  
The following morning, Ma’awyke took a patrol out West of Helton. Ma’awyke had ordered all of his men to wear helmets, while he did not, which he explained was meant to show the lack of fear Ma’awyke had for danger. The route circled through a small forest, and then back towards Helton and the rest of the orc battalion in the area. As the patrol of the five orc warriors and Ma’awyke walked down a path in deeper part of the forest, the whistling of arrows rang out in the air. Within seconds, the five orc warriors were killed, while Ma’awyke stood in the middle of the group untouched. Ma’awyke froze, as he saw nothing but brush around him, but could sense the presence of Elves.  
“Drop the blades,” a voice thundered from the right of Ma’awyke. Ma’awyke nodded, and complied, and placed the blades he was carrying on the group, as well as the body armor he was wearing.  
After Ma’awyke was unarmed, a group of thirty elves emerged from the brush, with a tall, slim, grey haired elf leading them.  
“My name is Lupo, and I am the commander of the elves in this region. I am a cousin of Legolas, and I serve under Aragon. I received your message last night. I see that you have came alone as you promised, and did indeed not wear a helmet, despite the risk to your safety,” stated Lupo calmly.  
“As my message said, I wish to make a deal with you that will benefit me, and the human cause alike. I can provide you with the intelligence to capture or kill Kabal, the leader of the orcish army on the Southern front. In return, you provide the strike team. After the mission is accomplished, we both go our separate ways,” Ma’awyke proposed.  
Lupo pondered the offer for a moment, and then asked, “Why should I trust you?”  
“I can provide you with orc uniforms and patrol schedules to free your men in Helton if you trust me. If you betray me, or kill me now, I have given orders to the prisoners’ guards to execute the prisoners if they do not hear from me in a certain amount of time,” Ma’awyke replied.  
“Sounds more like a threat, than a trade,” countered Lupo.  
“Make of it what you will, I do not fear death, but I am sure you fear the death of your men. The offer remains, accept or decline.” Ma’awyke spoke firmly as he looked directly into Lupo’s graying eyes.  
Lupo paused, and then decided, “I accept, tell me how to find and kill Kabal.”  
End of Chapter 2


End file.
